Column: Pitt's head wasn't in the game

Friday

Understandable, maybe, their attitude last week at the Big East Tournament, where West Virginia completely outplayed the Panthers in the quarterfinals.

But their focus wasn’t on winning another Big East title. Two of those trophies already reside in the case at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers wanted the bigger trophy, the NCAA championship that’s been elusive since Pitt’s resurgence earlier this decade.

Maybe, in their heads, the players have been daydreaming of that moment when they climb that ladder and snip their piece of the net. Maybe they are picturing themselves, jubilant, on the floor at Detroit’s Ford Field, raising an index finger to the heavens.

Maybe, because their collective heads weren’t in Friday’s near-monumental upset, a 72-62 win over No. 16 seed East Tennessee State.

At least until the final few minutes, the Panthers lacked the necessary will and wont to win a national title. On offense, they stood still instead or working for shots. On defense, they idly watched East Tennessee State, a team which couldn’t compete with Pitt’s size, get 20 offensive rebounds.

Clearly, this game was about the size of the player’s hearts. And the Panthers’ hearts didn’t appear to be in this one.

“They definitely out-hustled us,” Pitt guard Jermaine Dixon said. “We did more watching than we did boxing out. They got their hands on every ball.”

“They wanted it more than us,” teammate Brad Wanamaker said.

The Panthers weren’t the first No. 1 seed to overlook their first-round opponent, and they won’t be the last. But with the margin of their lead an eyelash away from being a single point at halftime _ a bucket by ETSU’s Mike Smith at halftime was reviewed and nullified _ one would have expected more urgency in the second half.

Yet, the Panthers allowed their inferior opponents to tie the score just 10 seconds into the half, and let the momentum swing violently from side to side. They never trailed in the second half, but they never led by more than four points until 12 minutes in.